Ollie Drake has seen the best and worst of his Godmanchester Rovers side in the space of five days.

Manager Drake admits all hope of winning the Thurlow Nunn League Premier Division title has gone following a 1-0 defeat at 10-man Newmarket Town last Saturday.

Rovers conceded late in the first half with the hosts then having a man dismissed moments later, but Drake’s side could not make their numerical advantage count.

That loss represented a sudden downturn in form for Rovers after they had excelled in a 3-0 home success against Woodbridge Town in a third-versus-second clash last Tuesday night which featured two Jack Chandler strikes and a third goal in two games from recent signing Cavan King.

“We were faultless on Tuesday,” said Drake. “We got everything spot-on tactically and the players performed superbly when being asked to buy in to a different gameplan.

“But then we were absolutely horrendous at Newmarket when we got exactly what we deserved – nothing.

“We paid the price for our sloppiness when going behind to what was admittedly a great goal and we could easily have been 3-0 down at half-time.

“The red card gave us a lifeline but we couldn’t break Newmarket down as we had no cutting edge or end product despite having all the possession throughout the second half.

“We’ve had injury and availability issues which haven’t helped lately, but we now need to ensure we get across the line in second place.

“We have 10 games to go and it’s a good run-in on paper. It’s now up to use to ensure that’s also the case on the pitch.”

Rovers face two long trips east in the coming days. They go to relegation battlers Great Yarmouth this Saturday, 3pm, ahead of a Tuesday trek to Brantham Athletic, 7.45pm.

Drake will miss both of those trips after being hit with a two-match suspension following his recent dismissal against Long Melford. He also received a fine.

Assistant boss Errol McCammon will be in charge with along with Drake’s father, Steve.

“Yarmouth are fighting for every point to stay up while going to Brantham on a Tuesday will be far from easy,” added Drake.

“I’m disappointed in myself as my actions mean I can’t be at either game, but hopefully the boys can respond in the right way to the defeat at Newmarket.”